/)\~ St /)\~ M 1 .f-o ~ eA-k ~~ Bringing Hope to Haiti As a part of a five-year-long partnership, engineering and counseling students traveled to Haiti in the summer to work with the Peltan Christian Primary School. Led by Engineering Instructor Jimmy Huff, Associate Professor of Engineering Rich Wells and Associate Professor of Counseling Todd Patten, students built a well and led a seminar in the developing country, in addition to serving the Haitian people and spreading the Gospel in many other ways. Before leaving on the trip, engineering students designed plans for the well and sent plans for a latrine, which was built before they arrived. Because of the rising need, students in the Engineering Service Projects class designed a high-tech latrine, complete with ventilation system in order to decrease the airborne disease carried by insects. When the group arrived at the school, they inspected the latrines and finished the ventilation system. During the construction of the well, students were assigned individual jobs in order to increase work efficiency. People from the community also came out to dig the well and pour cement. While they were digging, they often ran into rocks and water, forcing them to dive underwater to continue digging. The Harding team pumped out the water with a generator in order to solve the problem. Nevertheless, the situation was precarious; one slip of the generator at the top of the well and the result would have been disastrous for the diggers underneath. "It hit me just how much they wanted this well, that they were willing to risk their lives," Wells said. According to Patten, seeing Haitian people teaching each other and taking control of the situation was one of the most rewarding aspects of the trip. "The most meaningful experience for me was [seeing] a man explaining the importance of water treatment to a child from his school," Patten said. "Giving the Haitian people the necessary tools to aid others in the community was the whole purpose of the project. It is important to improve their basic needs, because until those needs are met, we cannot help with their emotional trauma." Patten also added that the men who helped with the well project had since then used their newfound knowledge and skills in their communities, spreading knowledge that would benefit multiple Haitian families in the future. This type of domino effect was exactly what the Harding group hoped to accomplish through their time in Haiti. "It's all a part of the plan and the partnership," Wells said. "It's like the old saying, 'If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a night; but if you teach him to fish, you feed him for a lifetime."' Jessica Boyd Student Life f 'J
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